The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-187284, filed on Jul. 1, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program product, program, game control method, and game processor for controlling progress of a video game.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many types of games provided by video games. Among these, there are video games displaying a player character operated by a player on a display screen and making for example the player character and an enemy character controlled by the computer fight on the display screen. Various command inputs for the player character are entered by operational signals input from a controller or other input device by the player.
As examples of the command input for a player character, there are instructions regarding the movement of the player character and instructions of actions to be executed by the player character from among a plurality of actions prepared in advance such as attack, defense, use of items, etc.
As an example of such a video game, Japanese Patent No. 2794230 discloses a game which allows input of a command for selecting the next fight action of a character after a waiting time set for each character in advance elapses after a timing from the start of the fight or the end of a fight action of the character. That is, the input of a command for selection of the action to be executed by a character is allowed when a waiting time distinctive to the character has elapsed after the previous action of the character ends.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, in such a game, to give more diversity by this mode and enhance the interestingness or play effect of the game, the timing for allowing input of a command designating the next action of the character is an important element. That is, it is important to devise various methods of setting the waiting time from the instruction of a previous action to allowance of the input of a command for instructing the next action. Further, it is important to devise various methods for counting the waiting time based on various factors.
An object of the present invention is to make the waiting time an amount of time corresponding to the content of the previous action of the character so as to provide a more interesting game.
Another object of the present invention is to change the count speed of the waiting time in accordance with the state of the character so as to provide a more interesting game.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable program product storing a program for controlling progress of a game, the program product storing a program for making a computer set as invalid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when an action of the character has already been instructed, start a count based on a predetermined timing from when an operational input has been set as invalid to when the action of the character has ended, set as valid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when the counted time reaches a predetermined time set linked in advance with the action, and execute processing relating to action of the character instructed in accordance with an operational input after the operational input has been set as valid.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable program product for controlling progress of a game, the program product storing a program for making a computer display a remaining time until a period ends in a period where an operational input for instructing a next action of a character is set as invalid after the start of the count and display guidance for prompting a player to enter an operational input when the period has ended and an operational input for instructing a next action of the character is set as valid.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for controlling progress of a game, the program making the computer set as invalid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when an action of the character has already been instructed, start a count based on a predetermined timing from when an operational input has been set as invalid to when the action of the character has ended, set as valid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when the counted time reaches a predetermined time set linked in advance with the action, and execute processing relating to action of the character instructed in accordance with an operational input after the operational input has been set as valid.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for controlling progress of a game, the program making a computer display a remaining time until a period ends in a period where an operational input for instructing a next action of a character is set as invalid after the start of the count and display guidance for prompting a player to enter an operational input when the period has ended and an operational input for instructing a next action of the character is set as valid.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game control method for controllling program of a game, the game control method including setting as invalid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when an action of the character has already been instructed, starting a count based on a predetermined timing from when an operational input has been set as invalid to when the action of the character has ended, setting as valid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when the counted time reaches a predetermined time set linked in advance with the action, and executing processing relating to action of the character instructed in accordance with an operational input after the operational input has been set as valid.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game control method for controlling progress of a game, the game control method including displaying a remaining time until a period ends in a period where an operational input for instructing a next action of a character is set as invalid after the start of the count and displaying guidance for prompting a player to enter an operational input when the period has ended and an operational input for instructing a next action of the character is set as valid.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game processor provided with a computer readable program product storing a program for controlling progress of a game and a computer for reading and executing at least part of the program from the program product, the computer reading at least part of the program from the program product and thereby setting as invalid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when an action of the character has already been instructed, starting a count based on a predetermined timing from when an operational input has been set as invalid to when the action of the character has ended, setting as valid an operational input for instructing a next action of a character when the counted time reaches a predetermined time set linked in advance with the action, and executing processing relating to action of the character instructed in accordance with an operational input after the operational input has been set as valid.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game processor provided with a computer readable program product storing a program for controlling progress of a game, a computer for reading and executing at least part of the-program from the program product, and a display for displaying a game realized by the program, the computer reading at least part of the program from the program product to display a remaining time until a period ends in a period where an operational input for instructing a next action of a character is set as invalid after the start of the count and display guidance for prompting a player to enter an operational input when the period has ended and an operational input for instructing a next action of the character is set as valid.